Ilia Topuria spoke about how he handled the loss to Justin Gaethje:
“For many years, I knew one feeling: winning. For the first time in my professional career, I had lost. That night I also discovered a side of the sport I had never experienced before: both orbital bones fractured, my septum broken, and my foot broken.
I remember waking up and looking at myself in the mirror. For a few seconds, I did not recognize the face staring back at me. I thought, “This can’t be. This can’t be me.” It was difficult to hold my own gaze, but something happened that may sound strange from the outside: as I looked at myself, I felt more respect for myself. I could even say I loved myself a little more.
I knew something better than anyone: I had given everything. I had arrived prepared, and I felt good physically, mentally, and spiritually. I did not need to search for an excuse. I had tried, and that night it had not worked out. That was all. I discovered that I could live with it, because when you know deep inside that you gave everything, the result hurts, but it does not destroy you.
I did not want to go back, erase that night, or change my story. I believe in God’s will. I have always said that if God ever ruins my plans, perhaps it is because those plans could have ruined me. It was very easy to repeat that when everything was going well. Now I had to live it. And I accepted it.
Maybe that, too, was meant to be part of my story. Maybe I needed that experience to discover a version of myself I had not yet met. I had won seventeen times and one night went wrong, but one night cannot erase a life.”
(via @Topuriailia)
🚨 Ilia Topuria is back on social media with his first post since the day after his loss at the UFC White House event
It is a letter to his son, Hugo ❤️
"Hugo, I've been thinking about you these past few days. About what you felt when you saw me go down. I know it hurt you...
But I'm also glad we went through it together. Because that day made both of us stronger.
Losing isn't what matters. What matters is how you lose."
(via @Topuriailia)